I
reviewed the Writhe and Shine Preview Ashcan a few months back and the
full-sized comic simply expands the eight pages of story from the Ashcan.
The main characters are Writhe, a new DJ at a local Goth club and his bald
friend, Shine, also a Goth who is useful in introducing the reader to the New
Orleans Goth scene. Shine’s ex-girlfriend, Demona (former Bastille DJ) and
her slavish follower, Mitch have it in for Writhe and do their best to trash
his reputation and stir the scene politics against him. Writhe, however,
simply wants to play music in the club and not get involved in petty
mind-games.

Writhe and Shine started as
a mini-comic containing strips about the New Orleans Goth scene. Some of these
one-page strips are included throughout this issue and most deal with the Goth
lifestyle. The strips were funny but I would have preferred them at the end of
the issue because they broke the flow of the main story.

I
do like Tritthardt’s cartooning style quite a bit. Being a part of the Goth
scene himself has allowed him to capture the look and feel with heavy use of
black and a confident inking style. Sometimes books like this can suffer from
the characters running together but I only had trouble keeping track of Mitch
and that was mainly due to him going from dressing like a Blues Brother to
being a vampire lord.

The
problem that arose in the Preview is still with the full-sized comic,
however. Too many times panels are taken up by huge exposition filled word
balloons. Being a comic fan, I’d rather see that dialogue broken up into a
page or two of words and pictures. The story would flow better and the panels
wouldn’t end up looking quite so cramped. This tendency could be attributed
to Tritthardt playing with the format and the need to get some personal Goth
scene rants off his chest. As he produces more issues hopefully that will
disappear.

Writhe
and Shine #1 is an
interesting look at the New Orleans Goth scene. The story telling needs some
polish but the cartooning style is engaging and the characters have a lot of
story potential.

If
you can’t find this in your local comic shop, contact Robert Tritthardt, 828
Royal Street, PMB #247, New Orleans, LA 70116 or visit the Writhe and Shine
web site at www.writheandshine.com
for ordering information.